A first-time Alberta Scotties champion will be crowned Sunday evening - it's just a matter of which Saville Centre team comes out on top.
Edmonton's Kesley Rocque advanced to the 2020 Sentinel Storage Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts championship match against the undefeated Laura Walker after knocking off St. Albert's Krysta Hilker 8-1 in the semifinal Sunday afternoon at Okotoks' Murray Arena.
"We definitely came out strong today, lead through skip, so that was nice. Some momentum to take forward to the final, for sure," Rocque said. "The first couple ends, they were kind of boring I guess, but Krysta's team was making a ton of shots and it was back and forth so we just wanted to make sure we settled in before we really went for it.
"If you knew you were going to win the semi, you probably want to play it just so you can get the nerves under control and get some feel heading into the final, but we're going to have to be at our best tonight. Laura's team is playing really well."
The final will mark the third meeting between Walker and Rocque, former teammates, at the tournament.
In the semifinal, Rocque — with third Danielle Schmiemann, second Becca Hebert and lead Jesse Marlow -— opted to keep hammer and blank the first three ends before hitting and sticking for three in the fourth end. She added steals of one in the fourth and fifth before Hilker got on the board with a draw for one in the seventh end.
Team Rocque had a hit for three in the ninth end to finish off the semifinal in style.
"Coming into this one we just wanted to really settle in and make the makeable shots and play well and I think we did a good job of that," Rocque said.
Hilker took the experience of playing in the Alberta Scotties playoff round in stride.
"Just being out there and having the chance to play a really good team and be on TV was really cool," Hilker said. "We're all really proud of ourselves, we definitely didn't think we were going to make it this far and we definitely met our goal of making the playoffs.
"We're just really proud."
Walker is 8-0 at the Alberta Scotties and took the page playoff 1 vs. 2 meeting with Rocque on Saturday night by a 7-1 score.
When asked about the prospect of facing Rocque for a third time this week in the final the 29-year-old skip said it comes with the territory.
"That's what you're going to get when you have a page playoff," Walker said. "It doesn't happen as often when it's a triple knockout into a page playoff because you often won't play the same team. Many other teams have had to beat the same team three times to win provincials.
"They're a great team and they're going to put up a better fight than they did (Saturday night). We just have to be on top of our game and hope for the best."
For the latest on the Alberta Scotties stay tuned to https://www.okotokstoday.ca/2020-alberta-scotties
